Man pickpocketed on Main Street dance floor

The Park City Police Department last weekend investigated a rare pickpocket report in the city, arresting a suspect after a tracing her to upper Deer Valley.

According to Phil Kirk, a police captain, a man reported being the victim of a pickpocket at 1:04 a.m. on Saturday. Kirk said the Michigan man told the police he was dancing with a woman at a Main Street nightclub. They met that night, he said. The woman is from Texas, according to the police.

After they danced, the man noticed his wallet was missing from a back pocket of his pants. The man followed the woman and watched her putting the wallet into her coat, Kirk said. He confronted her and took the wallet back, he said.

The woman then ran toward the exit. She got into a taxi or shuttle on Main Street, Kirk said. He said the man took a photo of the suspect and the vehicle she got into with a smartphone.

The police ran the vehicle’s license plate through a database to learn who owns the vehicle. The transportation company told the police where the driver took the suspect. She was dropped off at a hotel in upper Deer Valley.

Kirk said the police went to the hotel but were unable to find the suspect. An officer asked the hotel staff to contact the police if the suspect was seen. Kirk said the hotel contacted the police at 7:41 a.m. on Saturday with a report that someone matching the description of the suspect was in a restaurant on the premises.

Officers responded, but the person in the restaurant was a friend of the suspect instead of the suspect herself, Kirk said. They were sharing a room at the hotel. The friend of the suspect took the police to the room. The suspect was not there, but the police contacted her by phone. She returned to the room and was interviewed by the police.

Kirk said the suspect allowed the police to search the hotel room. An officer found a jacket matching the one the person in the smartphone photo was wearing, he said.

Kirk said the jacket had a price tag from a Main Street store attached. The police contacted the store and learned that the jacket probably had been stolen, he said.

The suspect was arrested on two charges of theft, Kirk said, commending the actions of the victim and the hotel staff.